Full Moon Fade Away

[The Jewel of Life]

Gwen was sitting under a tree reading a book called Amazing and Strange. Currently she was reading the chapter on moon phases, specifically the section on the full moon. Though it was extremely unlike Gwen to put off the summer project until this late, it had been done. She sighed. The book had no useful information on her chosen topic, the Full Moon Fade Away. Gewn closed the book and leaned back against the tree trunk to think of some ideas. Her peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a sharp vibration in her pocket. Gwen picked up her phone and read the text:

Go to forest Tmrrw nite @ 11.
Resrch prject wrk.
C U then.

It was difficult for Gwen to decipher the text message, but eventually she got it. Gwen replied quickly:

Intrestn, I will cme.
Lol, we gonna disappr 2?

The reply came shortly after:

Lol, yea.

Gwen turned off her phone and put it back into her pocket. It seemed that she would need to tell her parents that she would be leaving tomarrow night. Though it may cause questions.

Inside, Gwen found her mom and dad working on the computer. "Hey Mom, Dad, tomarrow I'm gonna go out to the forest with some friends. Okay?" Her dad thought about it a second before replying. "I guess it is okay... unless you are doing this to dissappear like some other people have. You must promise me you won't try anything stupid." Gwen's reply was hasty. "Yeah sure, whatever. i'll be going tomarrow then!" She ran out to her room and began to prepare for the quest she would take place in the next day.

***

The moon shone brightly on the grass as Gwen stepped out of her house, ready to explore the mystery of the Full Moon Fade Away. She knew it would be a faster trip pokeback than on foot. "Hey, Tundra, we are going exploring! Come on!" When the huge mamoswine stepped up Gwen walked over and hugged his leg before grabbing a chunk of thick fur and lifting herself onto his back. "Foreward march! To the forest!"

Once they arrived at the meeting place, Gwen jumped off and walked over to the others. It appeared that the group was made up of only boys, not including a girl that Gwen remembered as Sara, but she could be wrong. Gwen had always been one to remember faces, not names. "Hello everybody. Is this it or are thee still some others coming?" Tundra, like always, backed up Gwen's question. "Mam mamo?"

(eh, I was a little lazy with this... oh well...)

 

[Legend]

BzZzZzZT.

BzZzZzZT.

The cold ground rumbled with a small yet persistent force. Shuffling around in his sleeping bag begging to the lords above the sound would stop, Issac realized that his desperate prayers would go unanswered.

BzZzZzZT.

BzZzZzZT.

I can't take this....just five more minutes....it is all I ask, Isaac thought to himself. A feeling of deja vu overcame him. This reminds of high school all over again. Every morning was a struggle to get up.

BzZzZzT.

Now, Isaac isn't the type to give up so easily especially if he actually wants something. In this case, Isaac wants to sleep. Every normal teenager desires the pleasure of endless rest as sleep is the easiest way to escape the daily hassles life presents tone who wants nothing to do with responsibility. However, giving in to this force was the only way to actually free himself from this pain. This is like the concept of negative reinforcement from Psychology. It is funny when learning actually applies to life.

Isaac broke free from the bonds of the soft, oversized yet comfortable sleeping bag and grasped the culprit of the sound.

"Hello," he groaned with thoughts of sleep still clamoring throughout his mind.

"Hey man, what's up? Wait a minute....did I wake you?" the voice asked. Isaac recognized the voice, it was the assistant captain of the basketball team, a Junior turning Senior come the start of the school season. Isaac was quite popular in school especially in the Jock crew. It was due to a combination of his physical skills, his above average looks, and his natural charm that allowed him to gain his status. Another factor was his tendency to do favors for other people, believing it help produce good karma.

"Yeah, ya did. What do you want at this hour? Are you returning the favor I did for you? I told you setting you with that girl was no big deal." Isaac asked rubbing his eyes in a vain effort to awaken the rest of his body.

"Actually it is about 2 o' clock. In the afternoon. And yes I am returning the favor. I'd feel bad if I didn't. Anyway, did you your summer project yet?"

"You know I am going to college soon, right?"

"Yeah, but most of them at least require some essay. And last time I checked you suck at writing them, so you can't make a good essay even if you tried."

"What are you getting at?" Isaac asked in a frustrated tone with a face of disgust painted on. He hated when people insulted his lack of intelligence, even if it was completely true.

"Back home, they are bunch of people checking out some conspiracy for their summer project. I am sure any college would accept you if you were involved and did some project along with it. Especially if something interesting happens."

"Why don't you do it then? It would set you up for your senior year really well. Plus for all you know I am in another country. It has been awhile since I have been home."

"Isaac. Knowing you, you haven't gotten far. You are too lazy in the early summer. School tuckers you out quickly. I am sure you can make it. Just be at the gateway of the forest by 11. You know where that is right? Oh and don't worry about my project. I am focusing on the Zombie Flu that is plaguing the one country across the ocean. It is going to be sweet. Talk to you later dude." With a sudden goodbye, the caller hung up and Isaac was sitting confused on the floor staring at the bags of equipment that went from mass chaos to complete order.

Conspiracy? Sounds interesting enough, Isaac thought. So far my travels haven't really got me anywhere anyway. I had a few battles and managed to get a total 10 miles away from home, only to end up returning because I left my credit card home and need money. Might as well check this out. Maybe this could be the big break I needed. I am sure Dad would support this. And Sis would love to hear the stories if something exciting happens. A smile stretched across his face. It didn't long before his mind was made up. Isaac was going to take the chance and tickle his curiosity. After all, he had nothing better to do at the moment.

OOC: I am going to have Lucario talk normal. Meaning quotation marks and everything. He is using the whole aura speaking power thing. Telepathy, there you go. Hope it is okay lol.

From the bushes arose a Pokemon. A friendly one much to Issac's luck who was still deep in thought, a rarity to say the least. It was Luke the Lucario. Isaac's first and most trusted Pokemon. Luke was basically Isaac's opposite, which probably makes their relationship all the stronger. Where Isaac is irresponsible and foolish, Luke is logical and reliable. This stark contrast between the two caused a brotherly bond to form and their abilities when put together created a team that could not be defeated. At least not yet.

"Something wrong Isaac?" Luke asked using his aura speaking powers as he arose from the bushes. "You rarely think to yourself. By the way, here is some food. It is the last we got," Luke finished handing Isaac a sandwich.

"Nothing is wrong, Luke. Just we are going to check out something before we head home. A detour if you will."

"I hope you realize, we have no money at the moment. We may not be able to afford a detour."

"Don't worry too much. I have some cash left. Enough to get us through this detour."

Finishing up the last of his sandwich, Isaac packed up his things, put his adventuring clothes on and started heading home, which from his location was roughly a long yet physically possible walk. Based on the phone call, he had over six hours. The traveling wasn't particularly difficult, but enough of a chore to make Isaac irritated. Time wasn't exactly on his side and this was the only thing that was remotely interesting to happen to him this entire summer. More importantly if Isaac wanted to get into college the supplementary project part of the application had to be interesting. With his terrible grades, almost no college would give a chance, much less an acceptance letter.

Pulling out his iPhone (yes technology is on his side), Isaac pondered his next direction. For some time now, Isaac has been in stuck in the woods. Why? In his infinite wisdom, Isaac believed venturing off the roads would get him to the meeting place faster. But in classical fashion, the plan failed and Isaac got himself lost in the forest in the dark hours of the night. "Feels like we have been going in circles for...a long time now. Alright hopefully GPS works here."

The map placed Isaac only 30 minutes away from the meeting location. Problem: it was pitch black outside. With only the light from his phone and almigty words of GPS, one of the few devices Isaac understands, Isaac made his way to the location, slowly and carefully making sure to the follow the map displayed on his iPhone's screen. Emerging from the trees, Isaac reached the location and his arrival was complete with several figures staring into space. He didn't recognize anyone, literally. Most of them must have been underclassmen at the school or attended other high schools in the area. Isaac based that assumption on the fact many of them had the appearances of typical high school students. Developed or developing bodies and clothing and attitudes that reminded him of how he used to be while in high school.

"You people here for the weird conspiracy thing too? Don't ask me why I am here. I had some guy from the basketball team call me here. I guess he did because I was his captain and he felt he owed me something," Isaac stated in some vain attempt to stir conversation amongst the people who simply enjoyed gawking at each other and granting dirty looks towards one another.

OOC: Okay so this post hopefully doesn't ruin anything. The college project/essay idea was there to make sense for my character joining considering he graduated high school in theory due to his age. The long adventuring crap was just placing Isaac outside of the borders considering his history stated he was some journey of self actualization. So in theory, he would get the call the day of the meeting in the afternoon and have a painful walk to get there on time.

 

[Cirrus]

The afternoon sun lazily streaked through the silver, star-patterned blinds in Edwin's room, providing a broken array of illumination, the light flowing onto his music stand. Notes could be heard, repeated over and over again, the few bars extracted from Debussy's Clair de Lune. A Pokemon, a Chimecho, was floating nearby, watching, and sometimes correcting notes as the auburn-haired young man beside it – her, one should say – serenely fingered the astoundingly high notes in the six-note groups.

Something beeped, the beep lost in the strains of music that the young man was playing. Regardless, the glow from the black, wafer-thin cell phone could not be missed as it flashed green repeatedly.

Edwin sighed, and, sitting down, put his violin down beside him on his bed, snapping out of a reverie. "Needs some more work?" He asked his Chimecho before reaching to his table for the object in question. "Sorana?" The Chimecho nodded slightly, and reproduced a semi-similar version of the melody that Edwin was practicing a moment ago. Edwin sighed again, and flipped open his cell phone, pressing the button corresponding to his inbox.

edwin
expdtn meet at 11 pm in forest
abt full moon fdw

Confused, Edwin tried to decipher the message with little success, finally resorting to an online messagespeak dictionary.

"The Full Moon Fade Away?" Edwin mused, his mind still on the moon. "That might help me play my piece much better. After all… these fadeaway incidents are interesting in its own right, which will actually help me start my summer homework." Sinking back into his bed again for a moment, he thought about the possibilities. "Very well. Let's see what happens. After all, I'll have my music, Sorana, and Tino."

At the mention of its name, the small Bellossom waved to him lazily from his favourite pot, rooted in the dirt and relaxing. Tino was still a young Pokemon, even if he was in the final stage of his evolution, and acted like one. A bright smile on his face momentarily, Edwin disappeared back into the swirling vortex of the music, his practice resumed. Long notes, minor to a high degree, resonated on his violin and swept forth with a calculated slowness.
~~~~~~~~~~

Silently sneaking past his father, already asleep and in bed, Edwin slowly crept out of his house, carrying only his violin, which was obviously necessary, and a backpack for his sheet music and some light provisions – namely sheet music, sheet music, and more sheet music, as well as some easily accessible snack food, spare Pokeballs (surprisingly), and a box of primitive sulfur matches.

The air outside was crisp and cool as Edwin slowly paced towards the entrance to the forest with anticipation and nervousness. Cringing at the sight of a group of people already there, Edwin locked up in communications and only managed to push out a timid smile, friendly enough but not very confident. He did a small wave and went closer to the group, this time managing to squeeze out a small greeting as well.

"H-hi."

With that, he shivered, but whether he was cold or nervous was not shown.

OOC: I know I did sheet music two times. It was on purpose.

 

[Rabbit]

{ >_> My apologies. This isn't superb and not exactly on time. Still, better late than never, I guess. }

The blip of Morgan's cellphone almost went unnoticed beneath the roars of two lions onscreen. The three of them - Morgan, Cory and Jamie - were watching a nature documentary, Morgan streched out on the sofa and her brothers sitting on the carpet as a symbol of their lesser status. Their faces were intently focused on the flickering screen, but Morgan wasn't really paying attention to it. It was the usual stuff about dead gazelles and the importance of hyenas in the food chain. She pulled the cellphone out of her pocket to read Hector's message:

group meeting @ forest 11 pm, be there
p.s. full moon!

Morgan grinned and sent a short, affirmative reply. 'K.' Disappearing in cursed forests was her sort of thing. Lounging on the couch and watching TV - not so much. With no plans for adventure, she had really let herself go this summer. Hector's message couldn't have been more timely. And, at the back of her head, something reminded her about a research project that was due sooner or later...

She vaulted off the couch and slipped upstairs to her room to pack. Camera, check. Flashlight, check. Food rations would have to be smuggled out of the kitchen. Notepad and pencils were probably a good idea. First aid kit? She didn't have one, but there were band-aids in the bathroom and some rubbing alcohol that would have to do. Morgan made sure the door was closed as she opened drawers and threw items into her oversized purse with the utmost caution. Stealth was key.

Wasn't she forgetting something? The Pokemon, of course. Delta the Raichu was curled up on her bedspread, twitching lightly in her sleep - dreaming. Tom was in a shallow water-filled tray for which room had been cleared on Morgan's desk. The lights coming on had woken him up and he was burbling lightly in his pool, watching Morgan as she darted around the room. Jet's Pokeball was on the bookshelf - he was confined as punishment for pecking Cory's Abra. She recalled Delta and Tom and clipped all three to her belt, pausing momentarily with Tom's Pokeball. He was pretty young - what if something happened to him? But naturally experiences like these were how Pokemon grew, she reasoned, adding a few Potions to her bag's contents.

There was one obstacle left - her mother. Mrs. Falkland was answering emails at her computer desk. Morgan popped in with the intention of popping out just as quickly. "Mom, I'm heading to Emma's for a sleep over. Call me if anything comes up." Emma lived down the street and the two had long made a practice of covering up for each other.

Her mother turned, half-distracted and likely to acquiesce when she noticed the Pokeballs at Morgan's belt. "That's alright, honey. I wish you wouldn't keep telling me so late. What are your Pokemon going to be doing there?

"We need them for the tea party," Morgan answered with a poker face, and departed.

***

Morgan's bike whizzed down the street, going ting-a-ling-a-ling as she pressed the bell again and again in her overenthusiasm. There was no one around to be annoyed: in this section of the town, devoid of streetlamps, the sidewalks and roads were deserted. Aside from the full moon above the treetops, round and white as ice cream, her bike was the only visible source of illumination. The lights on the spokes of her wheels spun round and round in a dizzy pink and green blur, and a small lamp on the handlebars lit the concrete for a few feet ahead.
Delta kept pace beside her, an invisible shadow, and Jet was flapping above somewhere. Morgan was in an oversized ash grey hoodie that almost entirely covered her jean shorts. She had managed to get her head through the straps of her purse so that it hung like a messenger bag and didn't get in the way of her steering.

Still dinging the bike's bell, Morgan braked and skidded to a halt before the forest entrance. The darkness seemed to be moving, talking. She dropped the bike and leapt into to group with her flashlight on. The beam of light swung around, shining directly into the eyes of the gathered. "Hey! Why are you all sitting in the dark?" she cried.

 

[Ramzam]

Fia: I'll get to you when I do.

Right. So, because I'm an impatient jerk and Elaine hasn't posted yet, I'm putting her character in auto-drag for the moment, because I refuse to let the role-play just fall flat on its face like this.

Also, there's now an OOC thread.

This is post is rubbish, but it was the only way I could figure to get this all working. Besides, it just skips all them boring parts. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if at the very end of it I went somewhat OOC with Jansen and made the actual reactions to the occurrence unrealistic, but meh. I'm really rusty, because I haven't been able to RP in a long while. But posting something is better than posting nothing.

This also marks the start of free-reign posting. Until I say otherwise, though, pleas try to keep a maximum of three posts in a single day. True, it can be inconvenient, but it keeps people from being left behind.
========================================================

Hector was first to arrive. An upper-classman whom Jansen had only heard about through eavesdropping, they had little to say to each other. He simply waved back as the Latino sprinted over to his waiting place.

"Evening," Jansen responded to Gregory's salutation with an offhand expression. He chuckled as a result of his own fatigue, resultant from endless hours of pointless research and preparation. "We're the coolest idiots in town…" The teen nodded, looking up to the full moon as if it were putting him through a trip.

As the rest of the loosely acquainted gang began to show up, it became more and more obvious their expeditionary force was… "Interesting," to say the least.

Sara was the first girl to show up. The three boys all had their own responses to her subdued greeting.

Lance was next, beating Hector in the category of seniority. Jansen returned what he thought was a wave from the darkened distance. The candle-light streetlights weren't as illuminating as those electric lamps of the big city, making it more difficult to see during the night.

Gwen was the second female to arrive, riding in on her mamoswine. It made an impression, despite being her only Pokémon.

"The disappearances happen at about midnight. We'll wait until eleven forty-five, before we head off," Jansen answered, when she asked as to the current status of the group and its attendance.

An apparent graduate showed up next, asking about conspiracy theories and the such. Jansen had heard his name before as he was a captain on one of the high school basketball teams. Isaac.

"Yeah, we're all interested in finding out what happened to all those people. Hop on the bandwagon." It was all Jansen had to say. The idea that he could very well vanish from the face of the earth and not know how it would happen unnerved him on the inside. He disliked conversation of subjects he wasn't comfortable with.

Edwin arrived in a lackluster way, just barely managing to greet the group. This drew a smile and a nod from Jansen, whom, in the mixed lighting of a full moon and old-style street lantern, looked something like a nutcase.

Morgan arrived last, increasing the counter of feminine power to three. Although, her method of becoming known was less than desirable.

"Was the lightshow necessary…?" Jansen complained, blindly staring off into the darkness. He'd leapt up to turn off Morgan's flashlight after it let loose a beam of unholy light directly into his eyes.

The entire group had to wait for their eyes to readjust.

Another, more aloof and invisible girl showed up as Jansen made the decision to start the ridiculous trek to smear a broken superstition all over the faces of conservative parents. (This is you in auto-drag, Elaine.)

"Right, well anyway, losers are losers. It's eleven fifteen and I feel like being hypocritical. Off into the dark, scary forest we go." And so, at Jansen's word, they went.

The forest, despite the strong light of the moon, was indeed dark. There were too many leaves and few were falling—it wasn't markedly autumn yet. The normal, lush greens were all replaced by dull shades of blackened green, the ground nothing but a very dimly lit mess of black and grey pebbles, roots, and dirt. The hiking trail itself was completely clear. The wind, blocked by the trees, almost completely died, overtaken by the night bugs. The group had a casual conversation going on as they hiked through the forest, one of the more prominent noises being Jansen's monologues, recorded on his DVR in night vision. As time passed, Jansen noticeably grew more and more disappointed. His enthusiasm had turned into more of a sarcastic sunshine by the time his Pokégear rumbled, marking the coming of midnight.

At this moment, the group happened to be resting at a marked monument along the trail. It was a simple clearing in the forest at the base of the mountain, a tall, dirt ledge hosting the visage of large, stone doorway. The site itself had lost interest from researchers when it was, "proven," as little more than group of stones, partially vandalized as well—the keystone at the top of the arch doorway was missing. When the doorway was first found, it actually appeared to go somewhere. The research crew tried to dig through what appeared to be a collapse in a hall, but the soil was inexplicably hard and resilient. A tall, thin object, like a magnifying glass pointed toward a small hole in the dirt. All about were logs and burnt out circles where hikers had made the area more, "hospitable," to campers.

"And of course, nothing's happened. There's an hour left until the morning and nothing…" Jansen was once again monologue into his tiny video recorder when he noticed a small sliver concentrated light hitting the thin object. This light was then directed into the hole in the doorway. "Scratch that. We found a way to light our campfire, tonight," he laughed as he turned the recorder toward the object of interest. "Meh. Still got all night, though, so no big deal. Righ—" Jansen stopped short and uttered profane words of awe under his breath.

The hole itself flashed with a bright, milky sort of beam energy, letting off the noise of a waterfall. A strong wind blew through the small opening.

It was enough to get the attention of any normal human being.

As convenience and a need for material would have it, Jansen, in all of his infinite wisdom, walked over to the fake doorway and promptly kicked it with his right foot. Said foot became stuck. "Oh. Well, this must be where all those people went. Seeing as I'm already handicapped I'll just get rid of my useless left arm, so I can get it replaced with something bionic." With total disregard for his own safety, he thrust his left arm through the dirt. His hand didn't catch dirt, however, but rather found air and soft smooth textures, unlike rock and bone.

"Mil!" Sinca, who had been nigh stagnant the entire time leapt into poorly placed action and attempted to pull Jansen from the grabbing dirt, to no noticeable avail.

"Hey, guys, I think there's actually something on the other side… Now, seeing as I'm already halfway there, I may as well go the other two miles. Right then. Sinca! Three….Two… One…"

"Milta!" Sinca, who's arm had accidentally gotten stuck in the doorway as well, wailed in protest, doing little to change her trainer's poor decision making.

"Adven—" Jansen's war cry of adventuring was cut short as he and his screaming miltank disappeared behind the wall of dirt, almost as if they hadn't even existed. The teen's body only required a small push to be sent all the through and Sinca was dragged along by his weight.

"Ture!" The shouting finished, Jansen and Sinca tumbled down a small hill and into a generic, torch lit, subterranean chamber. Save for the eight tunnels all leading to naturally lit areas, the chamber was identical to the camp site on the other side of the dirt wall behind the two.

The same, whitish energy flowed through the hole, into a sort of threading needle, then up, into a gem embedded in the chamber's ceiling. Twenty nine square plates, accompanied by one half-sized plate surrounded the doorway, each embedded with a number of sort, counting days. They were all glowing with the white energy they appeared to siphon from the jewel. The ground was covered in similarly-colored cobblestones and steps led up the sides of the small hill, leading to the doorway.

"Gee… Maybe we should've taken the stairs," Jansen commented, rubbing the sensitive bruise under his knee.